An oil pumpjack operates at the Inglewood oil field on March 10, 2026 near Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
LONDON – European shares closed lower on Thursday as investors monitored the Iran war and volatile global oil prices.
Pan-European Stoxx 600 Ending the session down around 0.7%, the underlying sectors paint a mixed picture.
Chemicals and utilities led gains, while bank stocks dragged down the index due to investor concerns about exposure to the Middle East.
European Corporate News
shares Leonardo The Italian defense giant closed 5.7% higher after reporting stronger-than-expected revenue of 19.5 billion euros ($22.5 billion) and full-year net profit of 1 billion euros a year earlier.
Revenues will rise to around 21 billion this year, Leonardo said. The group is targeting revenues of 30 billion euros by 2030, with cumulative orders of 142 billion euros expected over the next five years.
Abivax shares ended 6.8% higher as rumors of a takeover bid for the biotech group re-emerged, which the company denied later in the day.
The French company was Europe’s best performer in 2025 after publishing surprisingly strong data for a late-stage trial for an ulcerative colitis drug.
Elsewhere, the German auto giant BMW Net profit for 2025 will exceed 7 billion euros, it said on Thursday, slightly higher than the consensus estimate compiled by LSEG. However, the company cited “tariff-related burdens” facing the broader auto sector, which it said would impact its EBIT margin in its automotive division by around 1.25 percentage points this year.
Shares of the carmaker rose 1.3% as markets closed.
In the UK
HSBC Shares fell 6% after the bank’s decision to close its Qatar branches indefinitely prompted fresh concerns about its exposure to the Middle East.
Wednesday’s decision came after Tehran announced it would target financial and banking assets linked to the US and Israel in the region following an attack on an Iranian bank.
Savills The US-based real estate investment bank announced its $1.1 billion acquisition of Eastdeal Secured with a solid full-year earnings report.
The UK-based real estate agent said pre-tax profit rose 11% to £145 million ($194 million) in 2025, as the group unveiled its expansion into the US market.
But Savills shares fell on the day, slipping 7.2%, as investors digested the details of the takeover.
— CNBC’s Don Mangan contributed to this market report.
